


Two Years

by canonlanon



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, keith and his mom play a game of Catch (some feels), keith loves his team ok??, klance, vld s6, voltron legendary defender - Freeform, yorance or whatever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-18
Updated: 2018-06-18
Packaged: 2019-05-24 19:20:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14960570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/canonlanon/pseuds/canonlanon
Summary: Keith and Krolia were stuck on the back of a space whale for two years, they must've had some interesting conversations, right?*VLD S6 SPOILERS*





	Two Years

Krolia looked past him, and Keith vaguely heard her yell for them to jump. He turned in the direction of her pointing, noticing the massive... space whale? Well, it was now or never, he supposed. The two were quick to jump from the floating rock onto the Creature's back, landing with a harsh roll. Krolia bent down to poke at a plant. 

 

"It's creating its own atmosphere." She said, taking off her helmet. Keith followed suit. "Well, this is us." She said, ceremoniously falling into a squat on the ground, starting a fire with the materials littered around them. Keith still remembers how he curled over on his side, taking his first nap in a very long time.

 

When Keith found his dog, it was possibly their third week on the Creature. It was hard for them to keep track of time with no rotation nearby, but Krolia's ticker served as a sensible clock. The two were standing around when suddenly light glitched in the sky, putting them both on high alert. When they investigated the crash, Keith saw him. Couldn't be much older than a pup, something similar to a space dog was fighting with the creatures that attacked Keith and Krolia's ship. Keith felt his blood boil, and when the dog tucked its tail and bent back its ears, he lept into action, and he and Krolia made quick work of the creatures. The dog didn't flee afterwards, and had followed Keith around since. He fell asleep that night with the dog curled in a ball against his back, and he couldn't fight back the smile that printed itself on his face.

 

Multiple days passed, Keith training his dog and helping Krolia make a suitable shelter took up most of their time, but one night she made another fire, one warmer than previous cool nights, and the three of them huddled around, eating a berry salad concoction they had scavenged from the Creature. Krolia looked over Keith. He had one hand spoon feeding himself their dinner, and the other scratching behind the dog's ear.

 

"Do you have a name for it?" She asked. Keith looked down at the dog and smiled. When it tilted it's head at him with crystal blue eyes, his breath hitched.

 

"I dunno, Yorak sounds pretty neat to me." He smiled at her, and the way Krolia's eyes lit up made something grip in Keith's chest.

 

"Yorak. I like it."

 

Keith slightly shook his head. 

 

"Hey, Yorak." He whispered, and the dog wagged his tail in agreement, before glitching ontop of Keith, knocking his bowl out of his hand and proceeding to lick his face.

 

"Keith?" 

 

"I'm good, I'm okay." He laughed, sitting up, pushing Yorak off him. When he looked over to Krolia, she had a small frown on her face, her eyes soft.

 

"Krolia?"

 

She blinked.

 

"Keith, I know I left you and your father when you were just a baby, and not a day goes by that I wish I didn't have to. However, I'm curious as to how you got into space? I took the only galran fighter ship, and last I checked, you never piloted the blue lion."

 

"True, I never piloted Blue, but I saved the kid who did, so I guess he felt like he owed it to me to get me stuck on the other side of a wormhole." Keith chuckled to himself. He remembered how relieved he felt to see Shiro again, and how utterly infuriating it was to see him strapped to a table like... like some sort of _animal_. "Honestly, if he hadn't shown up, I don't know that I wouldn't have burned the Garrison to the ground. They basically chained up Shiro- The guy who took care of me after Dad died." He looked to Krolia, and seeing her harsh swallow lead him to believe she already knew about his father.

 

"Shiro was on a mission to Kerberos, one of the moons for a planet in Earth's solar system. He had went missing, and crash landed back on Earth after a year. They... The Garrison had him strapped down to a table, like he was a threat to them." He felt his blood boiled in his veins again, clenching his fist. "And when I finally got to him, he was out cold. I was... outraged, really, and in the midst of all that, all my inner turmoil of trying to decide who to take down first- you know, for hurting Shiro- here comes this kid, shoving shit around claiming he was here to save Shiro too." Keith bit back a chuckle. "His name is Lance. I figured if he was so determined in saving him, Lance was probably someone with Shiro's best interest in mind. He wasn't alone, he brought two people who are now also friends of mine. Hunk and Pidge. It was hard getting everyone out of the crash site on Dad's old flying jet, but we managed. Once Shiro woke up, I told him about Blue, and when we found her, nobody could get through her particle barrier. I had never actually seen her, only felt her energy somewhere, and being so close was driving me insane." Krolia nodded for him to continue.

 

"You know what Lance did? After all my attempts to get through, he goes _'Maybe you just have to knock'_ " Keith says in a shoddy Lance impression, and knocks on the air. "And he knocks on the barrier, and it just- it just opens! God, he and Blue worked wonders together, but he's not the smartest, strategy-wise. He wasn't, not then. His brilliant idea was to load everyone in Blue and take her for a spin, which yeah, would be a great idea if our goal was to leave Earth, but it wasn't. Then, I just wanted information, and Hunk wanted to get back to his dorm before curfew patrols. But, yeah. That's how I ended up in space." 

 

Keith smiled at his hands as he raked through Yorak's fur. Krolia chuckled.

 

"What do you mean he _'worked'_ wonders with the Blue lion? Is he no longer a paladin?" That made Keith huff out a breath.

 

"Well... He's still a paladin. When Voltron first formed, he was in Blue, right? I was in Red" Keith vividly remembered the fire in his chest the first time he piloted Red. "Shiro was in the Black lion, as our leader. Then there's Pidge, who was in the Green lion, and Hunk pulled through in the Yellow lion. That was how we worked for the first few months of us in space, it was our team, and what worked for us. We lived with Allura- Princess Allura, from Altea. Yeah, she's alive, and so is her adviser, Coran. Yeah. But eventually we fought Zarkon, and during the battle, Shiro kept trying to keep hold of the Black lion, but in the end he-" Keith gulped. "The Black lion piloted itself into the Castle of Lions, and Shiro was nowhere to be found. So yeah, there was a dynamic shift in the team. Allura tried to pilot Black, but he wouldn't open to her. We tried everyone- Lance was upset he wasn't able to, but that's not his fault.

 

"It was terrifying, I sat down in Black's seat, and he just. Started. Stood and roared, like I was meant to be there. I hated every second of it. That was _Shiro's_ chair, in _Shiro's_ lion, and who was I to take his place?" Yorak tilted his head to look at Keith. He leveled his breathing. "So then, I was the new Black Paladin, or whatever, but then Red was pilot-less. It sure as hell wasn't Allura, and- get this. Red? My right hand man? Became Lance. He's still piloting Red, to this day." Keith smiled.

 

"What's he like?" Krolia spoke with a small smile, but her eyes held something else.

 

"Lance?" Images of blue eyes and warm smiles and friendly claps on the shoulder flooded his memory. "He's- well what _isn't_ he, really? He was there for me when Shiro vanished, and I'll never thank him enough for that." It came to his attention he never actually did thank Lance for that, and mentally kicked himself over it. "A-And then I vanished on him. He- Lance has a complex about himself. He flirts with anything in his line of vision and boasts about his sharp aim, but any time he does anything actually, I dunno, boast-worthy, he never brings it up." Keith furrowed his eyebrows, scratching Yorak a little harder on the base of his neck. His leg started thumping and Keith huffed.

 

"There was this one time, right after we ended up in space, where the Galra had planted a bomb in the Castle, and Coran and Lance were right next to the explosion. Coran said before he knew what was happening, Lance was just tackling him, covering him from the explosion. Lance still is yet to mention it. He's calmed me down from nearly losing all of Voltron to the hands of Lotor, back when he was... evil, or whatever the hell he's doing.

 

"Lance was able to be knocked down from the Black lion, get locked out of Blue- who he absolutely _loves_ \- and just get in Red and roll with it in the heat of battle, because we needed his help. And after all of that? Once Shiro came back, he came to me, and basically tried to give Red back. Like all the hard work he's put into learning to pilot him was nothing, and thought- thought he wasn't needed. Who does that? He can't see how valuable he is and it's infuriating. He's a quick thinker, and his ability to strategize has improved immensely, to the point where he comes up with plans on the spot. That's intense. And with all of that, he still doesn't believe in himself. Just- He never ceases to amaze me." 

 

Krolia was smiling harshly now, and Keith tilted his head. "What?"

 

"Keith, honey, is it possible that... you like him?" She hid her giggle behind the back of her hand. Keith rolled his eyes.

 

"Yeah, have for a while, really. I thought- well we" _bonded?_ "We've definitely had the chance to turn something out of our relationship currently, I've liked him since the explosion, the one he saved Coran from, and I thought- maybe he'd like me too? But he fell out the cryopod and was back on his flirting bullshit with the princess, so I guess I was wrong there. But when Lotor was our main priority, and I was trying to figure out Black, Lance helped- so much. Like anytime I was struggling, he was just there, making everything better. He was willingly coming to talk to me about things bothering him, he was trusting me more. And maybe that's what it's like being close to Lance McClain- close to anyone, really. Shiro was open like that, but Shiro is practically my brother. I thought Lance was actually interested in me, but he's too fixated on Allura to pay much attention to me."

 

"Oh, Keith-"

 

"But it's okay, really. I- Well, I didn't give him much time to develop feelings for me. I left to work with the Blade of Marmora, that's where I needed to be, and my weird love life can hold off until we're both at a place where we're ready to work on it." Keith watched Yorak curl into a ball.

 

"If it means anything, your father and I weren't 'lovers at first sight' or whatever it is."

 

"Love at first sight?"

 

"Yeah, that. I mean, granted, I was an alien who crash landed in his front yard, and he was just a man trying to sort his life out. We weren't exactly an easy pair. But like you said, we worked on it, and fell in love. We had you, and I was so ready to have a life for myself with you and your father."

 

"But, the Galra came to Earth, and you had to go." Keith finished for her.

 

"Keith, life happens. The Universe is not always kind, but rest assured it will always make things right. I had to leave you then, but I will never do that to you ever again. Now we can work on our relationship, and while I will never be able to recreate the childhood you could've had, I can be with you now."

 

Krolia reached out and cupped Keith's face, and he leaned against it, relishing in her warmth.

 

"Sounds like a plan to me."

 

\---

 

Krolia crossed her arms in the back of the Altean pod, seeing the Altean girl pet Yorak. (Romelle, if she remembered correctly.) She walked up to where Keith was piloting, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "So we're gonna meet Voltron, huh?"

 

He gave a terse nod.

 

"... Excited to see Lance?" She laughed as Keith's eyes widened and he pushed her towards the back again, for "distracting him while he was flying! Did she _want_ them to crash?". If the stars started passing a bit faster, Krolia pretended not to notice.


End file.
